Cromaine District Library Share Ale Together Now: Ingredients In Beer

Press release from the Cromaine District Library:

March 11, 2021

What’s your favorite thing about beer? The sparkling carbonation of a crisp lager? The thick, roasted malt flavor of a dark stout? Bitter, piney hops? Whatever your favorite flavor, you can thank your local brewers for choosing the best ingredients for their brew. As we know, beer is essentially made of just four ingredients; malt, hops, yeast, and water. Each ingredient in beer is meant to give balance to the overall flavor, carbon dioxide, and alcohol content of the beverage--and each ingredient in beer is more complex than it first appears, even the water! This month, our friend Michelle from River’s Edge Brewing Company in Milford has given us an interesting look at what makes each ingredient in beer as vital as it is.

Whether your favorite brewery follows the Reinheitsgebot or not, brewers are very particular about the selection of, and proportion of, each of their ingredients in their brew. Since beer is 90-95% water, water is one of the most important aspects to consider when troubleshooting or perfecting a brew.

WATER

Brewers spend enormous effort, time, and knowledge of chemistry to ensure that their water source will lend to delicious brews. The quality of water used in brewing, which is often related to ecological and cultural location, has an immense impact on the flavor, clarity, and overall body of a beer--and can include factors such as city versus country, proximal location to industrial activity, and more.

Brewers pay very special attention to the ions present in their water source because ions contribute greatly to the taste, mouthfeel, and perception of flavor in the brew. This is why using distilled water in brewing makes for a bland beer! A great example of the effect that ions have on beer is the ratio of sulfate to chloride, which impacts the bitterness or maltiness of a brew. Traditional IPA’s are high in sulfates, which support a strong bitterness and sharp mouthfeel; on the other hand, a more hazy or juicy IPA, like a New England style, has a more malt-forward flavor, with a soft and silky mouthfeel that is associated with high chloride content.

M-43, the well-loved New England IPA from Old Nation Brewing Co. in Williamston, MI.

So how is water adjusted to meet the needs of the specific brew at hand? From its initial source, water is pumped through a series of filtrations and into a Hot Liquor Tank (HLT). A common method of water purification used in the brewing process is reverse osmosis. This removes unwanted particles, dissolved salts, ions, and specific molecules from the water. Once water is purified for use in a specific brew, elements like calcium are added into the water. This can make for traditional tasting beers in any environment and climate around the globe.

Filtered water is also stored in a Cold Liquor Tank (CLT). This water is often used to cool down a brew after it has been steeped in malts and boiled with hops. The cool water flows through pipes within a series of filters alongside (but never mixing with) the beer until the brew has cooled to around 70-50°F. After this, the brew can be fermented. The cold water, once it has been warmed by the cooling beer, is pumped into the HLT and is reused as the starting hot water for future batches.

Now that we’ve considered water, which makes up most of the volume in a beer, let’s turn to the grains that give our beer body and flavor--and most importantly, fermentable sugars.

MALTS

Malt is the term used for a cereal grain, which has been soaked in water and allowed to germinate, then quickly dried to stop the growing process. Malts, or malted barley, give beer the starchy sugars it needs to create alcohol during fermentation. These fermentable sugars are released from the malt during the initial stage of beer production in the Mash Tun. Within the Mash Tun, the brewers’ desired malt mixture is steeped in warm water until the desired color, flavor, and sugars are released from the grains. This very sweet and grainy-smelling mixture is called “Wort” (pronounced “wert”), and can sort of be thought of as a barley tea: this brew liquor will then be boiled with hops, cooled to fermentable temperatures, and fermented.

Malts also contribute to the beer’s overall color and flavor compounds. Bready, toasty, caramel, and even dark or burnt flavors are attributed to the malt used in brewing. Pale or lightly roasted malts will lend to lighter colored, flavored, and bodied beers than roasted malts. Lighter Lagers and Ales are typically brewed with Pale Malts, White Wheat, or Maize. Ambers and Browns tend to be brewed with Vienna or Caramel Malts. For darker beers like Stouts and Porters, the malts used are typically Roasted or Smoked Malts, Black Malts, and Chocolate Malts.

Founders Breakfast Stout has double the grain of a light beer, and therefore double the alcohol by volume. This double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout is brewed with dark roasted chocolate malts, oats, hulls, and more for a thick and complex brew.

HOPS

Our beloved brews would not be possible without the female flowers of the Humulus lupulus hop- plant. Hops offset the sweetness of the barley with a hint of bitterness, add interesting aromas with aromatic hop oils, and act as an antimicrobial agent with preservation compounds like alpha and beta acids. Hops also provide particular desired flavors for certain styles of beer.

Hops grow in bunches on a “bine” and the flavor of a hop is dependent on the subspecies and environment in which it was grown. They are relatively easy plants to grow, but may not be commercially productive if certain environmental conditions--such as soil and rain patterns--are not met. Germany and the United States currently produce the most hops in the world. In the US, states in the Pacific Northwest like Washington and Oregon produce the most hops, and Michigan is the fourth largest producer of hops in the US!

Hops grow best on large trellises.

After brewers steep their malt in water to make Wort, they transfer this proto-beer into the Boil Kettle, where hops are introduced. Boiling beer, after hops are added, releases the essential alpha acids within hops, which provide the bittering and aromatic qualities of the plant. Common flavor and aroma terms for hops are: citrusy, floral, fruity, piney, spicy, and earthy.

Dry-hopping usually refers to a secondary addition of hops in the form of dried pellets. This is common in styles such as Pale Ales and IPAs. Wet-hopping is also a secondary addition of hops to a beer, yet the fresh hop cone is used instead of dry pellets to give a more earthy and subtle hop profile to a brew.

YEAST

Some say that brewers make wort, and yeast makes beer! Yeast contributes the alcohol content and bubbly mouthfeel (carbonation) to beer. It’s a living organism that consumes the fermentable sugars in beer, and produces carbon dioxide and ethanol.

Pitching yeast into a homebrew.

Yeast can also contribute esters to beer, which add a variety of flavors and aromas to a brew--such as fruity, earthy, spicy, and funky flavors and aromas. For example, Hefeweizens have a distinct clove and banana flavor brought upon by the yeast variety used. Saisons, or Farmhouse Ales, were traditionally brewed for farmers to drink after a day’s work; the yeast used in this style tends to add clove and pepper flavors.

Today, there are hundreds of different yeast strains that brewers can utilize to produce different qualities and alcohol levels in beer. More traditionally, there are two major strains of yeast: Ale yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and Lager yeast (Saccharomyces pastorianus).

Ale Yeast:The oldest known yeast strain for fermenting beer. Ale yeast, often used for English and American beers, is also known as Top-Fermenting yeast. These yeast strains are fermented at warmer temperatures (55-70°F) and produce subtle, fruity esters.

Lager Yeast:Utilized mostly in German, American, and Central European lagers. Lager Yeast is Bottom-fermenting, indicating that it ferments beer from the bottom of the fermentation tank at low temperatures (38-60°F). Lager yeasts do not produce strong esters but the colder fermentation temperatures allow for a crisper, cleaner mouthfeel.

There are also Wild Yeasts, which are strains from the genus Brettanomyces. They are used often in sour beers to produce funky, earthy, tart, and dry brews.

Now that we have covered water, malt, hops, and yeast in more detail, what about other well-loved ingredients in beer that are not one of these original four? Anything added to a beer that is not malt (i.e. malted barley), hops, yeast, or water are commonly referred to as “adjuncts." Adjuncts allow brewers to play on flavors that compliment and augment the flavors of a beer’s malt, hop, or yeast profile. Common adjuncts could include corn, rice, rye, oats, wheat, spices, berries, fruit, coffee, and chocolate. The options and combinations of adjuncts in brewing are limitless, and keeps the future of brewing exciting! For example, take the Nice Whip! Smoothie sour ale from Witches Hat Brewing Company in South Lyon. With pineapple, pink guava, and marshmallow fluff, Nice Whip! features an incredible combination of very different adjuncts to compliment the water, malt, hops, and yeast used in this brew.

Witches Hat Brewing has some really nice (and experimental) brews, particularly sours.

When you enjoy your next beer--be it in a pub, an outdoor igloo, or at home--take a moment to appreciate the complex arrangement of ingredients in your beer, and the vital role that each one plays in making your beer the well-known and well-loved brew that it is.

Cheers!

This press release was produced by the Cromaine District Library. The views expressed are the author's own.